House Committee On Oversight and Accountability
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Recent News About House Committee On Oversight and Accountability
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Comer: We Must Safeguard Taxpayer Dollars and Combat Waste, Fraud, and Abuse
House Committee on Oversight and Accountability Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) delivered opening remarks at a full committee hearing titled “The Government Accountability Office’s 2023 High Risk List.” In his opening statement, Chairman Comer emphasized that the Government Accountability Office’s (GAO) 2023 High Risk List will assist the committee’s efforts to combat waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement in the federal government and safeguard taxpayer dollars. The High Risk List is a critical tool for evaluating whether federal programs are working as designed for the American people. Chairman Comer stressed that federal government programs created and funded by Congress must fulfil their missions, but the GAO has determined that many are bloated, struggle to meet their objectives, and have become vulnerable to serious fraud and waste. To prevent waste and ensure accountability, he concluded that Congress must conduct more oversight, tracking, and data collection to determine how taxpayers’ dollars are being spent.
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Comer & McClain Continue Probe of Rampant Fraud in California’s Unemployment Insurance System
House Committee on Oversight and Accountability Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) and Subcommittee on Health Care and Financial Services Chairwoman Lisa McClain (R-Mich.) are continuing their investigation into the state of California’s Unemployment Insurance (UI) System which has been plagued by rampant waste, fraud, and abuse of U.S. taxpayer dollars. In the letter, which follows previous requests, the Republican lawmakers again press California Employment Development Department (EDD) Director Nancy Farias for documents and information which the Department has refused to produce.
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Hearing Wrap Up: Congress Must Utilize GAO’s High Risk List to Effectively Combat Waste, Fraud, and Abuse
The House Committee on Oversight and Accountability held a hearing titled “The Government Accountability Office’s 2023 High Risk List.” At the hearing, members emphasized that federal government programs created and funded by Congress must fulfil their intended purpose and meet mission objectives. However, massive programs have struggled to fulfill their responsibilities and are vulnerable to serious waste and fraud. Outside of COVID relief programs, members highlighted how the Government Accountability Office’s (GAO) has identified roughly $250 billion taxpayer dollars lost to waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement annually. Members stressed that the GAO’s 2023 High Risk List will assist the committee’s efforts to prevent waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement and safeguard taxpayer dollars.
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Wenstrup: Americans Deserve to Know if the American Federation of Teachers Role in Editing CDC School Reopening Guidance was More Political than Scientific
Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic Chairman Brad Wenstrup (R-Ohio) opened today’s hearing “The Consequences of School Closures, Part 2: The President of the American Federation of Teachers, Ms. Randi Weingarten” by emphasizing the importance of investigating school closure decisions — specifically the role the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) played in developing and influencing the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) “science-based” school reopening guidance. Chairman Wenstrup highlighted the scientific support for safely reopening schools and laid out the inaccurate recommendations promoted by the AFT. He also cited emails between the CDC and AFT that called into question whether Ms. Weingarten and her organization had political motivations which prevented our children from returning to the classroom. To prepare our country to address a future pandemic, the Select Subcommittee will continue its investigation into all available evidence and hold Ms. Weingarten accountable if the facts prove that she prioritized politics over the education of America’s children.
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Hearing Wrap Up: Chinese Criminal Rings Provide Financial Services and Materials Used by Cartels for Fentanyl and Illicit Drug Trafficking; Biden Administration Must Do More
The Subcommittee on Health Care and Financial Services held a hearing titled, “China in Our Backyard: How Chinese Money Laundering Organizations Enrich the Cartels.” Subcommittee members discussed with witnesses how Chinese Money Laundering Organizations (MLOs) have taken a central role in washing illicit funds stemming from cartels’ production and sale of fentanyl and other illegal narcotics in addition to providing cartels with the necessary precursor elements to produce fentanyl coming across the U.S. southern border. Subcommittee members also examined measures that Congress can take the crack down on Chinese MLOs and why the Biden Administration has not exhausted its tools in combating these illicit activities through sanctions and other measures.
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Comer Threatens Subpoena to Obtain Information on John Kerry’s Role in the Biden Administration
House Committee on Oversight and Accountability Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) sent a final letter to U.S. Department of State Secretary Antony Blinken requesting all documents and information related to Special Presidential Envoy for Climate (SPEC) John Kerry’s role within the Biden Administration. John Kerry continues to negotiate deals with foreign governments, including the Chinese Communist Party, that potentially undermine the United States’ interests and the Biden Administration has refused to respond to Committee requests for information on Kerry’s powerful, unchecked position.
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Wenstrup Leads Response to Attempted Interference in COVID-19 Origins Investigation by Chinese Embassy
Chairman Brad Wenstrup (R-Ohio) and all Republican members of the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic are requesting the Embassy of the People’s Republic of China make five Chinese scientists available for in-person, transcribed interviews related to the origins of COVID-19. Earlier this month, the Chinese Embassy contacted Chairman Wenstrup’s staff expressing firm opposition and “grave concern” with the Select Subcommittee’s COVID-19 origins hearing and called on Chairman Wenstrup to conduct an investigation based on “science.”
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Comer Announces Hearing on the 2023 GAO High-Risk List
House Committee on Oversight and Accountability Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) will hold a hearing titled “The Government Accountability Office’s 2023 High-Risk List.”
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McClain Announces Hearing on Chinese Money Laundering Operations Assisting Cartels, Killing Americans
Subcommittee on Health Care and Financial Services Chairwoman Lisa McClain (R-Mich.) will hold a hearing titled “China in Our Backyard: How Chinese Money Laundering Organizations Enrich the Cartels.
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Hearing Wrap Up: D.C. Health Exchange Head Struggles to Explain Huge Data Breach
Following a data breach which impacted the personally identifiable information and protected health information of tens of thousands of individuals at the D.C. Health Exchange, House Committee on Oversight and Accountability Subcommittee on Cybersecurity, Information Technology, and Government Innovation and the House Administration Committee’s Oversight Subcommittee held a joint hearing titled “Data Breach at the D.C. Health Exchange.”
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FDA’s Food Safety Director Agrees to Testify on Infant Formula Crisis
To assist in the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability’s ongoing investigation into the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) response to the 2022 nationwide infant formula shortage, Subcommittee on Health Care and Financial Services Chairwoman Lisa McClain (R-Mich.) has called upon Dr. Susan Mayne, Director of the Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition at the FDA, to appear before the Subcommittee
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Wenstrup to Hold Hearing on Consequences of Pandemic-Era School Closures with American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten
Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic Chairman Brad Wenstrup (R-Ohio) will hold a hearing titled “The Consequences of School Closures, Part 2: The President of the American Federation of Teachers Ms. Randi Weingarten” to delve into any role Ms. Weingarten and the AFT may have played in editing the CDC’s COVID-19 school reopening guidance and keeping schools closed longer than necessary.
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Comer: President Biden’s Poor Leadership and Planning Led to the Catastrophic Afghanistan Withdrawal
House Committee on Oversight and Accountability Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) delivered opening remarks at a full committee hearing titled “The Biden Administration’s Disastrous Withdrawal from Afghanistan, Part I: Review by the Inspectors General.”
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Comer: House Republicans Take Action to Block D.C.’s Anti-Police Bill
House Committee on Oversight and Accountability Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) today delivered remarks on the House floor in support of House Joint Resolution 42, which would block the D.C. Council’s anti-police bill from taking effect.
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COVID Origins, Part 2 Hearing Wrap Up: Intelligence Community Officials Provide Further Evidence that COVID-19 Originated in a Wuhan Lab
The Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic held a hearing on “Investigating the Origins of COVID-19, Part 2: China and the Available Intelligence” to explore declassified intelligence related to COVID-19 origins and examine China’s complicity in suppressing the origination of the global pandemic.
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Mace: D.C. Health Data Breach Resulted in Sale of Thousands of Individuals’ Information on the Dark Web
House Committee on Oversight and Accountability Subcommittee on Cybersecurity, Information Technology, and Government Innovation Chairwoman Nancy Mace (R-S.C.). today delivered opening remarks at a joint hearing with House Administration’s Subcommittee on Oversight
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Hearing Wrap Up: Americans Deserve Answers on President Biden’s Catastrophic Afghanistan Withdrawal
House Committee on Oversight and Accountability held a hearing titled “The Biden Administration’s Disastrous Withdrawal from Afghanistan, Part I: Review by the Inspectors General.
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Grothman: Biden Open Border Policies Led to Historic Encounters of Unaccompanied Alien Children
Subcommittee on National Security, the Border, and Foreign Affairs Chairman Glenn Grothman (R-Wis.) today delivered opening remarks at today’s subcommittee hearing titled “Oversight of the Office of Refugee Resettlement’s Unaccompanied Alien Children Program.”
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Fallon: Biden Administration’s Spending Spree Has Left DOE Vulnerable to Waste, Fraud, and Abuse
Subcommittee on Economic Growth, Energy Policy, and Regulatory Affairs Chairman Pat Fallon (R-Texas) opened today’s hearing by slamming the Biden Administration for its rampant spending which more than doubled the Department of Energy’s (DOE) budget without ensuring proper guardrails exist to protect U.S. taxpayer dollars.
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Wenstrup: Intelligence Community Plays an Essential Role in COVID-19 Origins Investigation
Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic Chairman Brad Wenstrup (R-Ohio) opened today’s hearing on “Investigating the Origins of COVID-19, Part 2: China and the Available Intelligence” by emphasizing the importance of listening to intelligence experts and following the facts.